Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki means something like an "as-you-like-it pancake". Having been out for proper okonomiyaki in Japan, I decided to see if I could make something remotely close to the same dish, and vegetarian! It's really just the bonito (fish) flakes they put on top that needed to be left out. You can interchange pretty much all of the vegies except the cabbage, but condiments are essential. This version was adapted from the Just Hungry blog.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cabbage, finely chopped
• 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
• 1 leek, finely chopped
• 1 small potato, grated
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (you could also try sushi ginger)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 1/2 cups plain white flour
• 1 egg
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
• Kewpie mayonnaise (to serve)
• Bull-dog tonkatsu sauce (to serve; I didn't have it this time and felt the dish was slightly lacking without!)
• Sriracha sauce (to serve; optional)

Method:

1. In a reasonably large mixing bowl, dissolve the vegie stock in 1 cup of boiling water, then add 1 cup of cold water.
2. Beat the egg into the stock water, then add the potato and sesame oil.
3. Sift the plain flour in and mix until you have a thick batter.
4. Add the other ingredients to this mixture as they're chopped (i.e. cabbage, red onion, leek, and ginger), then stir until everything is coated.
5. At this stage, I divided the mixture into four portions, being careful to get an even amount of the liquid "batter" in each. (You could just spoon it out from the same bowl for each pancake though.)
6. Heat a little canola oil (or peanut oil; anything without a strong flavour) in a non-stick frying pan on medium heat.
7. Spoon out a quarter of the batter to make the first pancake, let it cook for a few minutes until the edges look a bit brownish then flip it over.
8. Let it cook for another 10 minutes or so (I had to lower the heat so it wouldn't burn).
9. Repeat with the other three portions.
10. Serve with kewpie and tonkatsu (and chopped spring onion, and Sriracha if you're that way inclined!)